[Jewelry making - Article 00201] - Re: [Orchid] Platinum rings - which alloy is best?

[Matthias Fehlinger]

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Hello Keo,

>     your purchase. Are the rings flat or domed? I guess platinum
>     market in Germany is bigger than the Swedish dito so I don't mind
>     purchasing my rings overseas. We're still looking for the best
>     option. 

    They are slightly domed. 

>     I've owned several gold rings (18K) and they scratched terribly in
>     no time. But if you say plat.rings scratches but gives a nice
>     patina rather than ugly scratches, then I would not worry much
>     about scratches anymore. 

    I must admit, it depends on personal taste (naturally) if you like
    this kind of patina. This is why I tried to take a photo and put it
    on my website. Look here, it might give you an idea (sorry, I am not
    a jewelry photographer, so the pic is still poor compared to others): 

    http://user.blue-cable.de/Schmuck/

    (If the photo does not work like this, I could send it off-line via
    email to you. Just tell me). Since internet links can not be sent
    through orchid, I had to write it this way. Beware, the picture has a
    size of 600 kb. 

>     My concern is that we are planning to put a stone in her ring later
>     (she prefers wearing one ring only) so the Vickers is a crucial
>     factor I guess. 

    When we purchased the rings, they told us it was no problem to put a
    stone in. So a HV greater than 100 should be ok. But we did not want
    to put one in. 

>     I do imagine, however, that a polished metal that gets scratches
>     will look better than matte-finished metal that gets shiny 'here
>     and there'. 

    The initial matte finish that we purchased is no more visible. There
    are (really!) thousands of scratches that cover the whole outer
    surface of the ring (the inside still has mirror finish). Every time
    you touch a doorknob made from steel, the small part of your ring
    that gets in touch with the steel is polished. This gives all the
    scrates producing matte finish I described. BTW: On the photo it may
    look like deep scratches. The majority is not deep, only two slightly
    deeper dents at the edge. This happens when somebody heavily shakes
    hand who wears a ring himself. 

>>   No. After welding, the rings get soft. It is crucial that after >
>>   welding, the rings must be cold worked to get strong enough. 

>     As a total newbie I am - cold work means hammering and such? 

    Hmm... here my english starts to show signs of weakness. I try to
    describe it - cold work does not necessarily mean hammered surface.
    Our rings were 1 (german) size bigger when we made them and with high
    pressure they have been sized down to exact fit. This sizing is a
    different kind of cold work. Another kind of cold working would be
    stretching of metal or bending. 

    The hardness that we achieved by resizing made the rings very
    strong. I.e. Rings from sterling silver easily deform to non-circle
    shapes - our platinum rings still have a PERFECT round shape. 

>     More about cold working - what does cold work 50% mean? 

    I am sorry - this I cant explain with exact terms, somebody else who
    can answer this? 

    There is one last thing I should write to you: The ultimative test
    for the right size of plat. rings. We put the rings on and washed our
    hands with cold(!) water. Since your fingers are smaller in cold
    state, the ring still has to sit securely on your finger or it is too
    big. If you shake your hand vigorously in the cold state with rings
    put on, they must not slide off! The goldsmith told us, most of plat
    rings get lost a) in winter with cold hands, simply fallen off
    because of the high weight or b) at swimming in a lake (same reason). 

Matthias

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